Fruit and Vegetable Quality

(Table 4.1) can be related to the textural and taste characteristics of par-
ticular cultivars. Gala is typically crisp and sweet, Red Pippin (Fiesta)
crisp and acidic and Jonagold softer in texture and balanced with regard
to sugar and acidity. As fruits ripen slowly during storage, production
of aroma compounds adds further to the recognition of any particular
cultivar. In addition to such fruit characteristics, apples of different cul-
tivars vary in their potential to store and in their response to methods to
prolong storage life. These cultivar-storage environment interactions are
particularly important since they determine tolerances to the stresses that
are imposed by low storage temperatures and by low oxygen and ele-
vated carbon dioxide concentrations in the storage environment (John-
son, 1994a). Differences in the fruit structure, physiology and bio-
chemistry of apple cultivars have promoted the need for research to suit
storage conditions to each cultivar. Although clonal differences in the

Cultivar Differences in Apple Quality 69

Red Pippin Gala Jonagold

Nos. Orchards 13 12 12

Harvest date 12 September 24–25 September 1–2 October

Firmness (N)

mean 79.9 80.3 72.4

range 18.7 14.9 9.3

standard deviation 6.32 5.04 2.64

Acidity (mg g^1 )

mean 6.3 3.8 6.3

range 1.6 1.0 2.9

standard deviation 0.43 0.29 0.77

Total sugars (%)

mean 9.5 11.7 11.1

range 2.3 1.9 2.7

standard deviation 0.56 0.68 0.79

Reducing sugars (%)

mean 5.0 7.8 8.3

range 0.9 0.7 2.1

standard deviation 0.30 0.21 0.59

Table 4.1. Harvest Quality of Apples from Commercial

Orchards in the U.K. in 1996.